1. Incorporation by Reference
Applicant(s) hereby incorporate herein by reference, any and all U.S. patents and U.S. patent applications cited or referred to in this application.
2. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to personal care bottles such as used for containing and dispensing shampoo, mouthwash, and lotions; and more particularly to a pair of such bottles that are mutually engagable so as to provide the benefit of ensuring that the bottles will conveniently continue to be used jointly.
3. Description of Related Art
The following art defines the present state of this field:
Smith, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,374: A nest-or-stack, lidless, open-stacking container for handling and storage of bulk material such as food products features a seamless, one piece plastic construction with channels formed into the bottom to permit the use of a forklift truck for moving, lifting and stacking of the container, and with stacking surfaces for stacking filled containers and nesting stop surfaces for nesting empty containers.
Kreeger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,611: A three-level stack and nest container is provided with a row of outwardly projecting stacking feet along the lower edges of a pair of opposed end walls.
Three stacking foot receiving seats are formed at the inner side of each end wall at different elevations in vertical alignment with each stacking foot so that two containers may be stacked or nested with the upper container at a high, intermediate or low elevation relative to the lower container depending upon which set of seats of the lower container are engaged by the feet of the upper container. Each vertically aligned group of seats includes recesses in the inner side of the end wall extending downwardly at opposite sides of the uppermost of the three seats. One recess will guide a stacking foot to the intermediate seat, the other recess will guide a stacking foot to the lower of the three seats.
Stahl, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,327: A container adapted to either stack or nest with another similarly oriented container of identical construction. The container has a plurality of feet along each side adjacent the bottom. The container side walls each have a lower section and an upper section spaced outwardly from the lower section and joined thereto by a ledge providing nesting saddles directly above the feet. The container also has a plurality of stacking saddles along the upper edge of each side wall likewise postioned directly above the feet. There are inclined ridges in the upper and lower sections of each side wall which guide the container down to a nested position within a lower container of identical construction.
Carroll, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,052: A container adapted to stack upon the endwalls of an identically oriented identical container, to partially nest within the endwalls of a reversely oriented identical container, and to have improved ability to resist the outward flexing of the endwalls that tends to occur due to the weight resting upon a container which is partially nested in the inventive container.
Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,724: A nest and stack container adapted to nest in, or stack on, a lower container of like construction, depending upon the orientation of the upper container with respect to said lower container. The walls of the container comprise bar members which extend between the bottom and an upper guide rail of the container. Said bar members are arranged such that the bar members of an upper container parallel the bar members of a lower container during nesting. Said guide rails on opposite ends or sides of the container make possible “blind stacking” or “blind nesting” of the containers, even at heights greater than the height of the person stacking or nesting the containers.
Our prior art search with abstracts described above teaches containers with nesting and stacking features. However, this prior art fails to teach nesting containers with snap-action dual container attachment features, and also fails to teach a cap that also functions as a stabilizing element when the container is placed inverted on a surface. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.